Cyber predator’s jailing a warning: police

Police have hailed a jail sentence imposed on a cyber predator as a warning to others who consider using the Internet to prey on children.

George Singaraya, 55, is the first person to be convicted under the new laws.

He had pleaded guilty to charges, including using an Internet chat room to procure a child for sex.

Singaraya used an Internet chat room to contact an undercover police officer he believed was a 12-year-old girl.

He engaged the officer in explicit conversation and sent pornographic emails before arranging a face-to-face meeting.

At the time he was on bail for possessing child pornography

District Court judge Kevin Sleight said Singaraya had been cunning, was likely to reoffend, and was a danger to the community.

He sentenced Singaraya to two years and 11 months in jail, and fined $600.

The Police Child Protection Squad’s Tom Mills says he hopes the sentence sends a strong message to others considering using the online environment to commit offences.

“It should serve as a warning to those people who wish to use the Internet to try and prey on children that the police are online and we are arresting people who commit these sorts of offences,” he said.